Were any console-to-computer expansions successful?

[jhd]

It seems that just about every classic video game console received a "computer" expansion at some point: the Atari 2600, the Intellivision, the Colecovision, the Astrocade, the Famicom, and even the Genesis -- though the latter two were only reeleased in Japan. Arguably, the Odyssey 2 included the "computer expansion" from the very beginning.

 

Were any of these computer expansions successful? Were they actually useful, or just marketing gimmicks in an attempt to sell more consoles?

 

The Intellivision expansion received a little bit of software support, and the Compumate received exactly two titles, but there does not seem to have been much for the other systems.

 

The Adam was the most successful of the bunch, but that was also available/promoted as an actual computer, as well as just an expansion device to a game console.

[Hatta]

Linux on the PS3 was pretty useful to a lot of people. Including the USAF.

[Algus]

Linux on the PS3 was pretty useful to a lot of people. Including the USAF.

 

I miss the hell out of that feature. I used my PS3 a lot less once they stripped Linux support out.

[Manoau2002]

The Adam was released at the start of the video game crash and released with some hardware flaws. This made it very difficult to successfully complete. All of this systems were competing with each other plus Commodore, Apple, and the Atari computers. (Msx, Spectrum etc.)Competition can spur innovation. Too much competition and there are casualities.

[NIAD]

I'd say the ADAM Computer expansion of the ColecoVision was the most successful of these game system expansions into computers in North America... I can not say say for the rest of the world because I am not familiar with any of those products. There have been varying numbers thrown around about exactly how many ADAM systems were in fact manufactured, but the 100,000 that I hear people mention is extremely low in my book and the 950,000 that I have heard even BITD might be on the high side but a lot more believable.

 

Considering the number of products released by Coleco for the ADAM, the Users Groups and mail order companies that flourished into the early 90's and the sheer amount of quality hardware and software that was developed and released after Coleco orphaned the CV & ADAM... I'd say the ADAM did a lot better than the other computer expansions. Heck, there is still a yearly ADAM Convention run by AA member ADAMcon.

 

Pictured below is a near complete collection of ADAM warez. These pics do not include any of the 3rd Party/Homebrew items that were made starting in 1984 and continue to be made to this day which would take a lot more pics to display.

[fiddlepaddle]

I'd suggest that the Amiga fits as it was originally designed as a game console, then expanded to full computer status... yet eventually earning it's reputation as a significant game machine.

[mbd30]

The Oddysey2 probably sold as well as it did because it also marketed itself as a computer and educational.

[Osgeld]

Linux on the PS3 was pretty useful to a lot of people. Including the USAF.

Same was said about the PS2, in both cases the raw computing horsepower per watt was better suited to blade type servers, small machines designed with massive throughput in mind vs durh durh graphics n sound

 

in both cases a 200$ pc could out horsepower both for less cost within a few months of release given the tasks at hand

Edited December 20, 2014 by Osgeld

[BassGuitari]

Were any of these computer expansions successful? Were they actually useful, or just marketing gimmicks in an attempt to sell more consoles?

 

The ADAM comes the closest. They were ALL marketing gimmicks to sell more consoles, but the ADAM--in spite of its, shall we say, idiosyncrasies--was a bonafide home computer, whether as a standalone machine or an ungainly Colecovision add-on. And for a short, short time, it was moderately successful.

 

The Intellivision ECS (like the Aquarius) only existed to get the FTC off Mattel's back about the Keyboard Component, which for all intents and purposes never came out. The ECS was cheap and fulfilled the only the most absolutely basic requirements of a computer system. It's more interesting as an Intellivision add-on (there are some games which require it) than an actual computer. As a computer, it's about on the level of an unexpanded Timex 1000 or Radio Shack MC10, only with a weirder BASIC interpreter, nonexpandable RAM, and horrendously low text resolution,

 

The Bally, with its BASIC cart (which included tape I/O for data storage and retrieval), essentially WAS a computer--or at least could double as one in a pinch--but its dinky calculator-type keyboard made programming a bit of a hassle. It wasn't that successful a machine anyway, and for most of those relatively few who had it, it was a game machine.

 

The Odyssey 2 looks like a computer, but that's about it. It had a cartridge for some rudimentary assembly language programming, but no interface for storage or retrieval (I think some add-on including these kinds of features came out for the Videopac systems in Europe though). It's just as well; imagine trying to program anything on that membrane keyboard...it would be worse than an Atari 400.

[CatPix]

The Videopac+ (Odyssey3) had a BASIC cart.

I like the O²/Videpac, but you can't consider it being a computer. It doesn't even have a full-fledged microprocessor; thi is the reason why the BASIC expansion (for the more powerful Videopac+!) and the Chess carts game with a fat-ass expansion, that provided... a Z80 CPU.

 

As for usefulness.. The Astrocade computer expansion would have given it the power of the arcade machine with 64k of RAM, access to the high resolution video mode.

For the Intellivision, the original Computer Module would have been powerful too and probably useful.

 

For the Videopac, the BASIC expansion was not though as beng usefull, just being a tool to teach BASIC.

[high voltage]

I'd say the ADAM Computer expansion of the ColecoVision was the most successful of these game system expansions into computers in North America... I can not say say for the rest of the world because I am not familiar with any of those products. There have been varying numbers thrown around about exactly how many ADAM systems were in fact manufactured, but the 100,000 that I hear people mention is extremely low in my book and the 950,000 that I have heard even BITD might be on the high side but a lot more believable.

 

Considering the number of products released by Coleco for the ADAM, the Users Groups and mail order companies that flourished into the early 90's and the sheer amount of quality hardware and software that was developed and released after Coleco orphaned the CV & ADAM... I'd say the ADAM did a lot better than the other computer expansions. Heck, there is still a yearly ADAM Convention run by AA member ADAMcon.

 

Pictured below is a near complete collection of ADAM warez. These pics do not include any of the 3rd Party/Homebrew items that were made starting in 1984 and continue to be made to this day which would take a lot more pics to display.

ADAM was quite a bit successful in UK, I used to own one, and we even had a newsletter (excellent newsletter from a guy in London with loads of subscribers)

[high voltage]

I guess this was successful:

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2014 by high voltage

[Rybags]

Atari XEGS. Though I class it as a computer to begin with even if not paired with the keyboard.

 

I suppose I'd have to agree with the Adam, it was probably the highest profile wide release computer upgrade.

And systems like Oddyssee 2, Bally Astrocade - I'd not class them as proper computer upgrades when so equipped.

[4ever2600]

Short answer is no...

[NIAD]

ADAM was quite a bit successful in UK, I used to own one, and we even had a newsletter (excellent newsletter from a guy in London with loads of subscribers)

Keith Marner was the gentleman who ran the group (United Kingdom ADAM Users... U.K.A.S. for short) and he did a tremendous job serving the ADAM owners throughout Europe for many years. I even got a chance to meet him when he attended ADAMcon 01 in Orlando or was it ADAMcon 03 in Cleveland.

[carlsson]

Uh.. if anyone thinks of the Amiga computers as consoles upgraded to computers, then you should think the C64 was a console (MAX Machine) upgraded to a computer as well. Besides, there was a C64GS similar to the Atari XEGS but downsizing a computer into console format should not be relevant for this selection.

 

Although not very successful at all, the VTech Creativision was a hybrid video game/computer with built-in touch keyboard. If you added the BASIC cartridge and tape recorder, you had a low-end home computer. You could also add the moving-key rubber keyboard, extra memory, printer interface or other peripherals.

[Osgeld]

dunno about the amgia but the 64 did little of anything well outside of games as far as computer tasks go ... course what do you expect when you buy a "computer" from a toy store

 

amiga had a hard time justifying its extra hardware outside of games, look at me a 123 work alike, with games but its not compatible with your work pc type of thing

Edited December 21, 2014 by Osgeld

[CatPix]

I like this kind of statements...

Sure the C64 and Amigas were big in gaming, but it's forgetting about the hundred of professionnal software developped for them.

The C64 had a solid library of professionnal softwares, and things like the Z80 expansion card werent for gaming, but for for porting the famous CP/M OS and softwares to the C64, a huge need at the time where CP/M was considered as the professionnal OS, and could run only on Intel 8088 and Z80 CPUs. Commodore even released the C128 to include the Z80 and CP/M,as well as a hi-res text mod for adressing the issues of the C64 in this regard.

yes, the C128 failed, but Commodore release it in 1985, the same year than the Amiga 1000, and the price difference between the new 16/32 bits computer and this bulky 8 bits was too narrow for it to catch on.

The Amigas were big in the graphical and video industry, being cheaper than MacIntosh computers, and some remained in use well in the 2000's.

 

Even the Amstrad CPC computer, which was primary designed as a gaming computer ( but is was Europe, where consoles never really caught before Nintendo, so you had to expect computers to be more versatile) was used as a professionnal computer, thanks to the Z80 and 128Ko of RAM, and a provided CP/M floppy.

Schneider-made CPC used at a German BMW factory in the 80's

 

Amstrad even made the most succesful CP/M computer, the PCW :

Which was a bit more than a CPC with a whopping (at the time) 256 or 512Ko or RAM, CP/M included (on floppy for better upgrading) and a line of professionnal softwares. This beast sold 8 millions.

 

Yes indeed, early computers of the 80's were designed with gaming in mind, but NOT ONLY.

And most of those computer did made impressive work in professionnal and industrial use. It's just that in the 90's, the PC versability and ease to upgrade, retrocompatibility (with some quircks at the beginning, yeah) and the IBM trademark made it a de facto standard for office use, sending all those micro-computer in the bin, only letting the ones attached to specifc uses surviving ( a French freeway company used mid-80's Thomson computers up to 2002 for toll gates).

 

 

But it's not even the topic.. We're talking about expansions. Not consoles made into a computer-like machine, no computers turned into consoles, but consoles, with an attachment designed for expanding them into a more-or-less full-fledged computer.

Edited December 21, 2014 by CatPix

[awhite2600]

... but the 64 did little of anything well outside of games as far as computer tasks go

 

I have to disagree here. Yes, the C64 did have some limitations if compared to the original IBM PC. There were some solid C64 productivity titles. PaperClip was an extremely popular word processor. (It was even ported to the Atari 8-bit line.) I used PaperClip for my high school and college assignments for several years in the mid-80's. There were very functional spreadsheet, database and other productivity titles as well.

[mbd30]

dunno about the amgia but the 64 did little of anything well outside of games as far as computer tasks go ... course what do you expect when you buy a "computer" from a toy store

 

amiga had a hard time justifying its extra hardware outside of games, look at me a 123 work alike, with games but its not compatible with your work pc type of thing

 

And the early PC did other tasks well, but lacked when it came to playing games because of the PC speaker sound and CGA or monochrome graphics. CGA, worst graphics card ever.

[Seob]

 

And the early PC did other tasks well, but lacked when it came to playing games because of the PC speaker sound and CGA or monochrome graphics. CGA, worst graphics card ever.

Off topic, black and white cga was far better then color cga.

[Great Hierophant]

CGA and PC Speaker were competitive with the Apple II, the original gaming computer

[CatPix]

Let's not forget that IBM fought hard for making the PC not attractive for gaming. Pc speaker - CGA video standard, and most important - expensive hardware, including progressive displays, where at the time, other computers used TVs - either direct TV output or proprietary connection system.

In 85, prices were in this range : (note : I'm using French prices, and I heard that Commodore commented on the European market of the time that they were pulling the prices up, sp they may be lower in the US)

A ZX Spectrum was 100$/£, 1000 FF; an Amstrad CPC was 2 times this price; an Atari ST 5 times; an Amiga 1000 8 to 10 times this price. And a IBM PC was a whopping 50 times the price! Even if you loomed into the range of IBM PC compatibles, a perfect compatible PC like the Logabax Personna 1600 was still sold for 25 times the price of a ZX Spectrum, a serious obstacle for making the PC a home computer.

For reference, the minimum French wage of the time was around 5000 FF, so the price of an Atari ST. so an IBM PC was 10 months of salary.

 

Prices dropped drastically as compatibles were introduced, and, still being expensive, a Commodore SL 286 in 1988 was sold for 10 000FF with a printer (I know it, I have a bill at home with this price) so about the price of an Amiga at the time. Tho the Amiga would have better video and sound options at the time.

Edited December 23, 2014 by CatPix